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jamie-88443
Reviews
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Mission Inescapable: How Can Without be Within?
Saw this great action flick last night. Everybody delivers, from Sir Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson to Renner, Rhames, and naturally Pegg. Even... Alec Baldwin!? Is this the best MI yet... hard and pointless to compare. McIntosh apples and Florida oranges. It's fun. The heart pounding scenes come in spikes. And they're great. The action and CG is refined. If it's doable, the blood pumping's finessed. As for the impossibility, improbability or outright likelihood of a rogue mission's success... Christopher McQuarrie went tongue in cheek with this one. If everyone thinks they know how it will end, that must include Ethan Hunt, Benji and the crew, the double spy love interest... even the villain (and Sean Harris absolutely paraded down this Lane), right? Well, whether or not degrees of freedom and suspension of disbelief affect a climax for you, Ethan's unhappily hammered point is taken: When The Hunter is forced to be The Hunted, the only place left to Hunt is in the grip of the trap.
Paper Towns (2015)
Self aware, down to Earth, satisfyingly fluffy
Saw it last night. It's tricky to talk about this one without spoiling it. But I will -- discuss, not spoil. It's a romance in two appropriately lopsided acts. Think the structure of The Crying Game melded with the story of The Fault in Our Stars (another perfectly cast movie penned by the writer of this one)... but with any controversial content and nearly all seriousness surgically removed. And, of course, a different finish. This picture gets the love and the depth through flirtation. It's a coming of age story and a nerdy adventure. Leans lightly but certainly on movie high school mores and types and don't go looking for big thrills, unless by big you're content with record breaking black Santas or a surprise cow. The film is a successful story of two ships. Do they pass in the night? Do sparks fly?
Mr. Holmes (2015)
Keeps nearly together... .
Viewed last night. Ian McKellan steals his own show as usual and Laura Linney and Milo Parker give solid support, notwithstanding. This film marches to its own drum -- certainly the BBC Film beat -- and a click further up tempo. It displays wistfulness, escapism and casual depth in equal measures. Holmes does the sherlock thing throughout the movie, witticisms easing into badinage, and as the film enters its twilight hours a silently paired apposite element is revealed, sleuthing in stride and aside. If you're ticklish in this area you'll find yourself giving it up at a nice even pace. A fine flick. No call to deliver a bite. Neither tired nor wired. Don't let it slip away from you at the unfolding.